Device to detect suicide bombers

A group of students have developed a portable to detect the weapons of suicide bombers. Improvised explosive devices (IEDs), the weapons of suicide bombers, are a major cause of soldier casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, a group of University of Michigan (U-M) engineering undergraduate students have developed a new way to detect them. The students invented portable, palm-sized metal detectors that could be hidden in trash cans, under tables or in a flower pots, for example. The detectors are designed to be part of a wireless sensor network where suspicious objects are located and who might be carrying them. Each of the sensors weighs about 2 pounds. “Their invention outperforms everything that exists in the market today,” said Nilton Renno, a professor in the U-M department of Atmospheric Oceanic and Space Sciences.